Kamana Kitchen — Restaurant in Hawaii

Edit: 1/27/24 So glad to see that they've taken quality seriously again.

It was almost as good as I remember it being upon initial opening. Lots of flavor and fresh cilantro. I've missed good Indian food for so long and I'm delighted and more than grateful that it's back!

(excuse the photo, it looked so good that we dipped into it beforehand) The Aloo Gobi and Mushroom Matar was delicious! &yhe garlic Naan was perfect! 👌 Best I've ever had. Peep the photo of that masterpiece. I could taste the love of the brother making such wonderfully tasty breads🥰

2023:I was a regular at this restaurant when it first opened in Kona many years ago; met the original master chef, was wonderfully serviced by Sam, Pooja, Lakshmi, and many others, and loved the cooking of Mr. Lama.

Unfortunately, with the changing of times and service members there is much to be missed about this once favorite Indian restaurant. The quality of the food is extremely inconsistent. The recipes seem to constantly change. The flavors and exotic spices are more and more lacking.

I really didn't want to write a subpar review but our last visit just left us feeling disappointed and almost betrayed.

I understand that the restaurant closes at 930pm but they should really say the kitchen closes at 830. In fact that night it would have been best to just say their fryer was closed and that they sold out for the night. 45 minutes before closing we called in for a two person order; two entrees, an appetizer, and garlic Naan and received heartbreak in return.

Upon arriving at home we opened our containers to find the following: 1.Vegetable samosas dripping and soaking in a pool of oil. The oil wasn't even hot enough to properly deep fry the samosas. The Yellow Daal Fry had about 3 tbsps of mostly uncooked lentils at the bottom of the container. The Daal Mahkani had a decent consistency but too seemed to have a great deal of uncooked lentils. The best part of our meal that night was the garlic Naan that didn't seem to have any garlic and was half burnt and dry and the mint and tamarind sauces.

We truly hope that things change for the benefit of this once amazing restaurant at the heart of Kona.

I was really too sad to even think about...

If Google had the chance to rate this place zero stars, I would. I came to check this place out on Alii drive with a friend a couple weeks ago and forgot to leave a review. We came in and were greeted with mediocre service.

Everything went okay until an INDIAN family with a party of around 8 walked in asking to be seated. Me and my friend witnessed everything unfold and overheard their conversation whilst waiting for our food. The restaurant serving INDIAN cuisine, denied INDIAN customers a table within the restaurant itself (tables were set on the lanai/porch). Which ultimately resulted in the family sitting almost outside of the restaurant, between two other shops. Our waiter who had also tended to the family told them that the seats within the restaurant were for “other” people. The restaurant was COMPLETELY EMPTY besides me and my friend taking up one table. There were plenty of available seating and tables COULDV’E been arranged to fit a group of 8. The family was reasonable and tried to understand why they couldn’t sit inside but the waiter kept silent and denied them a table, repeatedly saying that they were for other customers. Luckily, the family stepped up and called the waiter out on his bs, then left. It’s honestly disappointing to see and hear racism happening first hand. This establishment already seemed like it was failing right from the start. It’s sad to see that I can only see this restaurant going only downhill from now on.

The ONLY positive thing I will say is that this restaurant has ONE worker with a positive attitude, and it was the bare minimum. He was a young man who brought out our food. The food was okay, and the only reason we stayed was because of the naan bread.

This was my first and last time supporting a mediocre restaurant so long as they keep their employees with nasty...

Based on our experience, and in our opinion. Rating this place 1-star solely for the non-event it was tonight. After reading about the owner’s inspirational story online, decided to travel from Hilo to the Kona location for dinner this evening. Were informed by the manager that the last table was available, outdoors in the front patio - were seated and asked to scan the QR code menu. We were a party of three - I scanned and got the menu…wife scanned and got a menu as well. Soon we were arguing about the dishes on the menu! Turns out, we each were seeing a different menu with the same QR code! Not only were some of the dishes different, the prices on my wife’s version were quite a bit higher than mine! Upon enquiry, we were told that the higher-priced menu was valid, and were promptly handed a third menu - in hard copy this time! The prices were ridiculously high for the most ordinary/humble of dishes- we should know, we cook the stuff frequently. The experience did not end there - the wife wanted the vegetarian thali, while our son wanted the crispy Bhindi - only to be informed that both dishes were unavailable! This was the final straw - went inside as a courtesy to inform the manager that we were leaving to find somewhere else to eat. He couldn’t care less - he just distractedly waved us off! So, off we went! So much for the aura created in the online articles we read - about how the owner takes care to visit each of his growing locations, belief in customer service, etc. Again, an inspirational story and judging by the reviews online, perhaps worked for others. For us, unfortunately, it was a bust! Disappointing to...